Ash's attention was grabbed also as he turned to look at the computer display. "What's going on back--" he started, before catching sight of the news feed showing three large robots stood around the impact site, the shield that WEAPONS had erected now changed in colour.
"--oh." he said, a tiny hint of panic in his voice. "That's, uhm... interesting." he continued in the tones of someone rather obviously trying to hide the fact he knew more than he was letting on. "Have they any idea what it's all about?"
Meanwhile, back in the park...
"...I think I've got it."
The WEAPONS officials immediately turned their attention to the one who'd just spoken, who turned out to be the same scientist from earlier who'd started trying to decipher the message ticking round the shield.
"So, what does it say?" Solus asked with a frown. Lyla's expression indicated she would like to know, too.
"If my understanding of the glyphs is correct, it says 'WARNING: Transport active. No access to unauthorised personnel. Trespassers will be forcefully repelled'. Or, words to that effect."
"Transport to where, I wonder?" asked Solus. "I mean, weren't you guys saying just before that all the writing on the ground was a message of some sort? Like a warning or a threat or something like that?" It was then that Lyla's communicator started ringing. A glance at the readout told her it was HQ calling. And it was top priority.
WEAPONS HQ, Arcadia II Branch. About ten minutes previous.
"Chief! Chief!"
The black haired, bespectacled man was interrupted from his observation of the current Edenia Park situation by the same lab-coat adorned man from earlier bursting into his office.
"Settle down, Einblick." he replied. "You're the head scientist, not a headless chicken."
The older man gave him a frown and then stood up from where he'd been leaned over his superior's desk with a slightly manic look on his face. He straightened his lab-coat and cleared his throat.
"Apologies, Chief Mos." he replied in more even tones. "I came to tell you that we seem to have found something very important indeed."
"Which is?"
"Those mechanoids that engaged our officers. We're 90% certain we know where they came from."
"Yes?"
Einblick set a small holo-projector down on his chief's desk, which promptly projected a hologram of some old-looking text and images. "Look here." he said, pausing the projection on a certain area of the images. "Does that look at all familiar?"
The younger man frowned, scrutinising the image, and then looked from that to the feed of the scene in the local park. "Very familiar. Well, I see why you were so excited now." he replied, pulling up a holo-keypad from his computer and starting to tap away quickly on it. "I'd better start talking to people. First and foremost though, I need to talk to our agents. I'm ordering a media blackout effective immediately for Edenia Park in New Exile City. No photos, no voice recorders, no anything."
The older man looked a little surprised. "Isn't that laying it on a bit thick?" he questioned.
"When you take into consideration that what's sitting there in that park might be something that every rogue nation, weapons dealer, terrorist, you name it, would want their hands on? No, I honestly don't think it is." Mos replied. "You're that certain it's what I see in this image, I'm treating it accordingly. You'd just better not be wrong."
With that, he pushed the button on the interface that would give him a direct line to Lyla.
As previously mentioned, the message that Lyla received appeared to be extremely important. With her usual air of confidence she accepted the line and said "Yes sir?", awaiting her superior's comments on what had just happened.
"Officer Brangwin, Chief Mos here." came the reply. "Head of Science Einblick has just shown me some compelling evidence regarding the nature of those mechanoids your unit just had an altercation with."
"Yes?"
"Effective immediately, I'm ordering a full media blackout in the vicinity. There should be jamming equipment on hand in the transport that brought the science team to your location. It needs engaged post haste, and the media need issued out of the area."
"...right sir."
"Do not attempt to engage the mechanoids further. I can do without losing any personnel over the matter. Einblick will be coming personally to the site - we need to communicate with the machines and ascertain why they're here."
"Understood."
"Any questions?"
""Yes," She quickly answered, not wanting to waste any time. "What exactly were those things, and where did they come from?" She asked, curious for more information. "How dangerous are those things... really?"
"I can only shed light on the 'what' right now. The 'where' is something still baffling us." came the reply. "Einblick?"
A new voice came on the line, one she'd not heard before. "Hello Officer. I'll be brief. You know how there are, spread throughout the system, artefacts of the previous era, yes? Most of them are generally just records of times past, but every so often we come across technological relics that, when studied, give us insight into modern science and allow us to advance our own methods."
"Of course." Most everyone was familiar with this idea, after all - every so often, someone would find a relic of the old times somewhere, and it'd attract a lot of interest if it was something other than simply a record of old times.
"Right. More often than not, these relics are broken beyond repair, non-functional, or defective." the scientist went on. "However, what you have in front of you is, unless we are mistaken, very much the same as a find we made some 50 years ago. That specimen was found to be a few millennia old at least, and broken beyond all repair or usage. We were at least able to reconstruct how it would have looked, however, and we found records in ancient texts of similar-looking machines. We've analysed the details in those records of how said devices moved, acted and behaved. Your robot friends are textbook examples."
"So like I said, how dangerous are they, really?" Lyla asked, a frown forming on her features.
"They possess an adaptive-reactive intelligence shared to a hive mind." came the reply. "Each unit has the capacity for independent thought and movement, but every one of them learns what its siblings learn. We're also not sure of their offensive and defensive capabilities, but it's safe to assume the one that repelled you was using the bare minimum of force. Any technology contained in them, if given to a capable team with time to study it, could result in some very dangerous developments - certainly beyond what's currently available. We must not let that happen."
"I see," She nodded, understanding the consequences if some terrorist group or someone just as dangerous got a hold of this kind of technology. "Very well then I will use the utmost of my abilities to make sure that nothing happens to this... discovery," She called it, being intentionally vague in cause someone else was listening in on her conversation. "Any other information?" She carefully asked, her tone very tense. She wanted to know all that she could about this "thing".
"None for now. We're actively trying to figure out where that transport grid is attached to. It's safe to assume though that it isn't using the existing fibre optic infrastructure for short-range transport, though, and that already puts it several steps beyond our existing technology. We're not going to have a good way to know until they use it again, if they do."
At that, the Chief's voice came on the line again.
"For now, we just need the situation contained. They don't seem to want to get out of the area, so we only need to ensure no-one gets in. If we learn anything more, we'll send you the information. I'm going to go ahead and get in contact with the local government and law enforcement and explain what we're doing and why, I don't foresee any issues there. Keep up the good work, Lyla. Over and out."
There was a click and a beep as her chief signed off. Solus looked at her incredulously.
"I caught most of that..." he informed her. "It's laying things on a bit thick. D'you think it's going to be OK?"
"Yes," She told Solus. "As long as I'm here, don't worry about it," She reassured him. She resumed her normal air of confidence and smiled at him. "Hey, since when have I not been able to handle things? Exactly," She added, cutting him off before Solus actually had a chance to respond to Lyla. As for the officer herself, she simply turned around and got to clearing up the area, as per her orders.
"Right, of course." Solus replied with a nod, following her lead. He cast a brief wary glance back at the huge mechanoids before seeing to the task of shepherding the media back away from the impact site.
Meanwhile, back on Tabiator...
Mere moments after the words were out of Ash's mouth, the feed suddenly went blank. The news channel then cut back to the studio.
"...it seems we've lost our live feed from the site." one of the anchors said. "We'll try to--oh, hold on... ah. It seems that WEAPONS are ordering a media blackout for the area. We unfortunately will not be able to bring you any further news on this story for the time being, although we will keep monitoring for them changing their minds on this. Moving on..."
The other anchor proceeded to go on about other stories making the news, leaving Yulan and her guests to wonder at the sudden cut of the news.
Raia muttered a mild curse under her breath. "Media blackout! And I was trying to read what it was saying, too! Pesky WEAPONS people -- getting in the way of historical discovery!" She kept her little rant quiet, but she was clearly annoyed. Granted, she'd had little chance of making out the scrolling glyphs on the shield without writing them down, but they had caught her attention.
IC:
The sudden blanking of the news feed startled Serenity a little, though she recovered quickly enough. "Aww, man...I'm never gonna see what that was, am I?" She mumbled to herself. "Whatever. It's probably not important anyway."
*********
Surge remained where he was throughout the entire skirmish, not wanting to get involved and blow his cover. It wasn't really his problem anyway, and Reni obviously wasn't here. He didn't know where else she would be, however.
TBC
(OOC: Blah. Short post is short.)
Yulan, still making the refreshments as she watched the news feed, was nevertheless taking the opportunity afforded her to observe how her guests reacted. The reaction Ash had was interesting. Though she could easily understand why large mechanoids suddenly showing up a familiar part of someone's neighbourhood would put anyone on edge; Ash's reaction seemed to convey some hint- subtle as it was- that this somehow meant more to him than it would to the average native of Arcadia II. That was food for thought. The purple hedgehog girl's reaction seemed standard. It was Raia's reaction- or rather her words, quiet as they were, that drew Yulan's attention the most.
"You read Ancient Arcadian?" she asked in a voice that conveyed more than a spark of genuine interest, "I'm an enthusiast for ancient languages myself, although my repertoire is still very limited. If you like I can play back the last five minutes or so of footage and we can see if- between us- we can translate it? With the media blackout,we won't be missing anything". Even as Yulan spoke the words, a though suddenly occurred to her. "Speaking of missing things," she added, "aren't we missing something? Or rather someone? I'm certain I let four people in the front doors; three girls and one guy. But there are only four people here now with me included- where's girl number three?"
Raia blinked, and turned around. "Oh -- yeah, I can make out the gist of it, given time. I really want to know what that barrier was saying." She reached to take her small notepad out of her bag, only to remember that she had left it in the ship, so as to better look her part. "I'll need something to write it down with, though." She looked around the room at Yulan's final question. "Hey, you're right. Ash, do you know what happened to Eve?"
"...she's probably still downstairs, or something. Perhaps she got distracted by something shiny. I've noticed she has a tendency for that." Ash replied, mentally thanking Eve for an excuse to temporarily escape and regain his composure. "Would it be OK if I went and looked for her? I doubt she'll have wandered too far."
Somewhere Downstairs:
Eve had run as far away from the broken vase as she could, not wanting to get yelled at. She had ventured further into the building. She found herself within a garden, full of different flora and fungi. Completely forgetting the vase, she stopped by the flowers, giggling to herself. "They're all so pretty!" she chirped to herself, "I bet grandma would love these!" And without further thought, she began picking flowers for her grandmother.
"Certainly," Yulan said in response to Ash's question about Eve, "though if you don't find her after about five minutes or so of searching, come and get me. This place is a labyrinth in its own right- I'd like to keep from 'misplacing' any more of my guests". Having said that, Yulan turned her attention to what Raia had said. "I have plenty of writing material you can use," she said as she approached her desk, "hold on". She opened a cavernous desk-drawer and rummaged for nearly a minute before withdrawing her hands with two workbooks and pens of the kind used in any standard high-school, and which seemed somewhat at odds with their opulent setting. Handing a book and pen to Raia, she kept the remaining set for herself. Turning back to the computer, she gave it her instructions.
"Computer," she instructed, "play back the last five minutes of footage covering the strange developments on Arcadia II. On a loop please". The computer complied and began to play the images. As the mechanoids and the W.E.A.P.O.N.S. personnel went through their confrontation, Yulan watched the symbols on the barriers with rapt attention. "Freeze-frame," she suddenly commanded at a particular moment. Again the computer complied. Yulan traded her pen for a stylus, with which she gently traced a circle around part of the image on display. "Enlarge and enhance this section," she said. When the computer had done so, Yulan ordered it to replay the footage, keeping the section she had circled enhanced. "The symbols on the barriers are most visible here," she observed, "if we keep the enhanced section looping we should be able to crack them quickly enough". She gave the slightest of smiles to Raia as she said, "are you ready to see if we're as good as we think we are?"
"Thanks." the fox replied as he hurried out of the room. His thoughts were whirling as he went - why in the world were there suddenly those robots at the message site? More to the point, what was so dangerous about them that WEAPONS would argue a media blackout?
And why did they bear a passing resemblance to the mechanoid waiting in his ship?
He put those thoughts behind him for now as he headed back downstairs, making use of the same lift that had brought him and the others up here to begin with. He looked around him as he exited the lift, for any sign of the fugitive fennec.
"Eve?" he called quietly, not wanting to wake anyone. It was then that he spotted a broken vase lying on the floor. Oh great... he thought to himself. I think I can guess how that happened. Looking around some more, he still saw no sign of her. And so, taking a last glance around, he crouched, closed his eyes, and sniffed the air tentatively. It was faint, but he could still detect faintly something that smelled like she had. He set off in that direction, following his nose.
((one of those two characters we were warned about should find Eve first...*cackle*))
Raia's eyes were alight with excitement, and she returned the small smile with one of her own. "Absolutely," she said, before devoting all of her attention to the screen. She was quick to identify glyphs, the biggest constraint on her speed being how fast she could write. However, with the segment of video on loop, between the two young women it wasn't too long before the entire set of glyphs was jotted down. She copied the whole message neatly onto one sheet of paper, and commented, "Now the /real/ fun begins," as she started looking for words she recognized.
Somewhere Downstairs:
After picking flowers, she had decided to explore a bit. The place looked uniquely furnished. She had never seen such things before. In fact, she go so distracted that she tripped over a rail and fell down a flight of stairs. "Ow..." she groaned as she rubbed her head and bottom. The fall had been a short one, and she was no worse off for wear, save for a bruised shoulder. "I need to pay better attention..."
Ash pricked up his ears upon hearing a soft thump accompanied by what sounded like Eve's muffled voice. He frowned and quickened his pace, moving toward the source of the sound.
"Eve?" he called, quietly, looking around for the missing fennec. Then his phone rang, startling him. "Ack!" He fumbled with it as he pulled it out of his pocket, putting it to his ear.
"Hello?"
(OOC: Hmmm...what to do...)
IC:
As interested as she initially was by the news from Arcadia, Serenity was now getting bored. And hungry. She decided to 'check' on those refreshments while Raia and their host were preocupied...
...Now, she was lost. It couldn't have been THAT hard to find the kitchen...but...this place was so HUGE! The palace back at home had been expansive as well, but...at least she knew the layout there. Here, it was all different. She turned around and tried to head back to the previous room...but all she ended up doing was getting even MORE lost. And her stomach was talking even louder than before. Curse this high metabolism...
TBC
(OOC: Wheeee...When in doubt...let Reni get herself lost...that's always fun...XP)
OOC: You shouldn't give me ideas like that Shy...*evil laugh*
IC: "Indeed it does," Yulan agreed as she started looking for words and symbols she was familiar with too. Between the two of them, the translation progressed at a steady rate until, partway through, Yulan suddenly noticed something. "I know we've been devoting our attention to the translation," she commented, "but surely we haven't been working on it for so long that the rest of your colleagues have taken their leave? I know one went missing and the other to find her, but now where has the other girl gone? The one with the purple quills?"
As Raia took note of the fact that Reni had, indeed vanished as well, Yulan spoke to the central computer. "Give me a projection of the entire main building," she instructed it, "I want you to show me any active presence that isn't a droid. Life-forms only, and none that are asleep please". As the computer complied, Yulan commented to Raia, "your purple colleague can't have gone too far. As long as she didn't go out through the doors we came in by, she'll only be wandering somewhere in this suite of rooms". Even as she said that though, Yulan was struck by a thought and added, "unless she's accidentally discovered one of the secret corridors that riddle this place. If she's done that, she could end up just about anywhere in the building". The projection Yulan had ordered shimmered into existence before her and Raia. A cursory clance revealed a further complication. "When it rains, it pours," Yulan commented, "I was hoping only the five of use would show up- but apparently there are seven people awake just now".
Within a Dark Room:
Eve rubbed her bottom, trying to relieve the pain from the fall. Looking up, she noticed a door closing and rushed to stop it. However, it soon closed and, pushing on it, the fennec found it to be locked. She could see in this darkness, and hadn't seen a light switch before hand. "Wh... where am I?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her PDA. The light shined dimly in the corridor. Something shined in the distance, but she quickly found it to be a reflection upon a glass door. She tried to look through, but there seemed to be an opaque fog on the other side.
"Ash Fox?" came the voice on the phone.
"Speaking." he replied, quietly.
"It's about the patient enquiry you made earlier today."
"Aha?"
"You'll be pleased to know she's fine. We've accounted for all the missing patients now. She's just fine."
"That's a relief to hear." Ash replied, looking around, still trying to find where Eve had gone. The floral scents in the area were making it difficult to ascertain where Eve had gone, and he couldn't see any sign of her right now either, which was weird. "I'll have to get off the phone, I'm actually at work right now - but, thanks for calling and letting me know." he continued.
"No problem. Bye now." There was a click and the phone went silent. The tall fox tucked it away in his pocket and resumed looking for the missing fennec, trying not to make too much noise in the process.
"I hope neither of them is one of the ones you warned us about," Raia said, shifting uncomfortably. The mention of secret passages intrigued her as well. However, with a puzzle such as she had in front of her, she couldn't be distracted for very long. "At any rate, it looks like we've got most of the message figured out. Something along the lines of a warning that 'movement is active'. Then denying entry to some group of people, I assume ones without permission to be there, and those who do enter will be met with force until they leave. So basically, your standard equivalent of a 'do not cross without permission' barrier."
"That's how I read it too," Yulan agreed in response to Raia. Then, as the footage of the confrontation played over again, showing once more the way replacement mechanoids had suddenly appeared when the WEAPONS officer took out one, a thought occurred to her. "Maybe we've got the wording slightly wrong though," she said, "I don't think it's 'movement is active' for the first part". She gestured to the images playing in front of them. "You see here?" she said, "where reinforcements for the mechanoids suddenly appear- apparently out of nowhere? I think we're looking at a long-range matter transferrence device...a teleporter if you like. In which case, I think maybe the first part shouldn't be 'movement active' but possibly 'transport active'".
Having said that, Yulan turned her mind again to her 'misplaced' guests. She had advised Ash to come find her if five minutes of searching failed to produce Eve. If she were to now go looking for the other missing girl, then when Ash returned- with or without Eve- he'd find his client missing and be unable to conclude their business. She supposed she could ask Raia to look for her colleague, but Raia didn't know the layout of the building any more than any of her other guests did and that might result in her getting 'misplaced' too. Besides, Yulan suspected that if Raia were as much an enthusiast for archaic languages as Yulan herself was- and she seemed to be- the last thing Raia would want to do would be to leave their translation work to go and hunt for her colleagues- who might return at any moment anyway. Yulan decided that the best way of handling the situation would be for herself and Raia to stay put while using some of the domestic droids to do the searching.
Using the central computer to call a small domestic droid to her, Yulan gave it her instructions. "There are seven people awake in the family home just now," she told it, "of those seven, four are not Zhan family members. One of those four should be in this suite of rooms- in addition to the one here with me. I want you to go through this suite and see if you can find her. If you can't, I'll extend the range of your search". As the small droid complied, Yulan looked again at the projection that shimmered in the air before them. "I truly hope neither of the extra two are the ones I warned you about," she remarked to Raia, "because- short of an incredible stroke of luck- one of them is about to run into one of your colleagues any minute now.."
Raia's eyes lit up. "Yes, you're probably right. I wonder...." She trailed off as she recalled what Zeta had said earlier. The area inside the barrier was probably their transportation to Ex'aeire, now that she thought on it. Teleportation -- now that was going to be interesting. She turned her attention back to Yulan in time to hear about the potentially catastrophic meeting in store for the household, and grimaced. "Let's hope that isn't the case," she said, dropping her left hand to her side where her sword /wasn't/, and fidgeted.
OOC:
Out of a need to get things trundling along at a decent pace again, I'm going to do some plot advancement. Stand by for wall of text!
IC:
"Eve? E~ve? Where've you gotten to, Eve?" Ash called quietly, to no avail. "Dangit, where could she have gone?" he wondered quietly to himself, as he leaned against a wall. To his great surprise, it suddenly swung in and open, revealing itself ot in fact be a secret passageway.
"Ack--!" was Ash's reaction to this, as he stumbled and only just managed to save himself falling down a flight of stairs within. He felt the door almost closing on his tail, and promptly stuck a hand in it to stop it doing so.
"...is that you, pervy Ash?" came a quiet voice from down the small set of stairs. Ash smiled despite himself - there was of course only one person that would call him that around here.
"C'mon out, Eve. Credit to you, but you lose this game of hide and seek." he snickered, as the fennec came into the light from the doorway at the top of the stairs, squinting slightly. He held out a hand for her and helped her up the stairs. "Lemme guess. Secret passage took you by surprise, yeah?" he questioned, leading her back out. His companion simply nodded, an expression of concern written on her features. An expression that said she was hiding something. "...something the matter?" he asked.
"Uhm... no... maybe... yes?" she replied, not looking directly at him.
"It's the vase, isn't it?" Ash guessed, as they walked back the way he'd come. Her ears drooping somewhat at that was a giveaway that he was dead-on target.
"Don't worry about it. We'll just be honest... she's got that much money I doubt she'll miss one vase."
"Or some flowers?" asked Eve, showing her freshly picked bouquet.
"...probably not."
Back on Arcadia II...
"This whole situation is making me antsy." Solus announced, to no-one in particular. Though, he was well in earshot of both Lyla and the group of children from earlier; the latter of whom were now being ushered toward the other side of the police and WEAPONS perimeter, despite their protests.
"How so?" his partner queried, in a voice that suggested although she'd hear him out, she wasn't in a mood to talk it over right now.
"Just... well. I'm wondering what the hell those things are, that the chief'd order all this. Not that I doubt his reasons, but still..."
"Ours is not to reason why. For now at least." Lyla returned, with her usual air of confidence. "We'll handle it, one way or another. Right now, we've a job to do!"
"Right." Solus nodded in reply.
Back on Tabiator...
A short walk soon had Ash and Eve back in the company of Raia and Yulan - and, after a while of searching by robot (and a close call for said robot as the wayward hedgehog had initially mistaken it for something else), Serenity as well. Ash had taken the opportunity to broach the subject of the property damage while his client and his companion seemed in relatively high spirits, being as they'd just finished translating the message they'd been examining. He'd been prepared for the worst - but, it seemed, Yulan's viewpoint on the damage was far closer to his own than he'd expected. She had practically shrugged it off, stating that if her family's wealth couldn't spare the occasional broken vase or picked flower, then it wasn't good for much. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt that there was perhaps more behind what she said than she was letting on. Nevertheless, he dismissed that thought for now - the key point was that they weren't getting in trouble for their misdemeanours.
So it was that a little while later, the group were being escorted back to the mansion's front door.
"This has certainly been... entertaining." their host remarked, with a smile. "I would have to say, out of all the firms I've ever utilised in my life, yours has sent me the most interesting group of people."
Raia was reunited with her sword, which she hastily reattached to her belt with a barely audible sigh of relief. "Do keep in touch, won't you?" Yulan inquired of the sword's owner. "I would very much like to talk with you some more about your studies. It's always fun to converse with a fellow archaeological enthusiast."
"Likewise!" Raia replied with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll bug Ash for your details." she added, her smile turning into a slightly cheeky grin. Ash simply rolled his eyes and shook his head at that, though there was a small smile on his features too.
"Well, I shan't delay you any further." Yulan continued, opening the large front doors. "I am sure you have much to get on with. Once again though, my thanks for fulfilling my request in such short order - and with such efficiency. I shall be certain to utilise your services in future."
"You're welcome." Ash replied in a slightly distracted fashion. The thought from earlier was niggling him now, but again he pushed it back. "Just let us know if you need anything more, or if any of it's faulty. It shouldn't be, of course - it was all checked prior to delivery, but just in case." he added. After all, there's the chance my stowaways may have damaged the merchandise by accident... he thought to himself.
"As thorough as I would have hoped." Yulan replied. "I shall bid you farewell for now, and I wish you a safe and pleasant journey."
"Thanks." Ash replied, a more genuine smile crossing his face now. "Seeya!" he added with a wave, as he turned and headed back for the ship. His "crew" followed closely, and it wasn't long before they were in the air once more. And once they were...
"Hot damn, you guys, that was the biggest ass-pull ever!" Ash declared to his passengers, starting to laugh a bit. "I honestly did not think that was gonna work! Top marks to you all for acting, I don't think she realised you weren't all employees. And if she did... well, she has a heck of a talent for hiding it."
"Do you really think she was fooled?" asked Eve.
"I dunno." Ash replied. "But right at the moment I don't care. If she was fooled then we got away with it and that's great - and if she wasn't, she's not said anything of it and is just letting it slide. It's all good in my book."
"I guess... so, what's the plan now?" Raia piped up excitedly. "How are we getting to Ex'aeire?" Although she wasn't mentioning it yet, she already had her theories.
"Good question." Ash replied, glancing round at her as the ship made its exit into space. "We'd be best asking our resident expert about that, though."
"You rang?" the small bird mechanoid asked as it poked its head into the cockpit.
"Birdy! I mean... Zeta!" Raia declared, turning her attention to the creature. "How do we get to Ex'aeire?"
"It's a simple enough procedure. In theory." the mechanoid replied. "We merely need to make our way to a pre-arranged transport site and await transport."
"...something tells me though that there's a complication." Ash stated with a frown. "What's the hitch?"
"Whilst a transport site has been arranged, reaching it may be difficult. It would seem that currently there is a significant presence of local law enforcement personnel, from what I have had relayed to me."
"WEAPONS officers, you mean?" asked Ash warily, taking a glance round at the bird.
"Yes, I expect so. Going by their actions, it is likely safe to assume that they will be unwilling to allow us passage to the transport site. However..."
"However?"
"It is worth noting that the transport system is able to be used within a certain radius of a pre-arranged site."
"So basically what you're saying is, so long as we're just close enough to that circle on the ground, we can be, uhm, transported?" Ash asked.
"Yes, that is more or less what I'm saying. Although it may take a longer period for the transport array to triangulate your exact position as a result. So long as you remain still for the procedure, however, it ought not to be an issue."
"Sounds simple enough. OK then, I'll take us back to my work and drop off the ship, then we can be on our way. It'll be closing time by the time we're back, anyway."
New Exile City, Arcadia II. 6:07pm CST.
Ash, Eve, Raia and Reni now found themselves walking along towards Edenia Park, having taken a bus ride to one of the stops nearby. The mechanoid bird was no longer accompanying them, although he still had his eye on the group from some distance above. All in all, today was turning out to be quite odd, Ash considered, as he made his way along with his three companions. To the average on-looker, they appeared to be simply a group of friends out for a fun evening. Certainly it would be easy to believe so, with Raia's animated chattering about what she hoped to find, Reni's smiling and nodding, Eve's general bubbliness and his own quiet good-naturedness. Still, the illusion was likely to shatter once they reached their destination and they were transported. He was a tad apprehensive about the prospect, though at the same time he was also a little excited about seeing the unknown.
As they drew near to the park, he saw, as he'd expected, a large gathering of police and WEAPONS personnel preventing anyone getting within a few yards of where he knew the message on the ground lay. Going by what Zeta had said, though, this wasn't going to be an issue.
The four of them stopped a short distance from the living barricade, and simply stood looking as though they were just gawping at the scene.
Unknown location, Arcadia II airspace. 6:09pm CST.
[html]<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Triangulating target location...</span>[/html]
[html]<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Acquired. Locked on target co-ordinates. Setting transport array for biological matter...</span>[/html]
[html]<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Completed.</span>[/html]
[html]<span style="font-variant:small-caps">Activate.</span>[/html]
Edenia Park, New Exile City, Arcadia II. 6:10pm CST.
"...anyone else feel kinda tingly?" Ash asked, glancing round at his companions. He could feel a tingling sensation spreading through his whole body. Only as he looked round at the others did he notice that the area around them was starting to get rather bright. Brighter than it should be for this time of day.
"Oh boy... here we go!" Reni replied, shutting her eyes and wincing slightly.
"...hey! What's going on!?"
That was something Ash had hoped not to hear, but as things were, he considered, it was essentially inevitable that someone would notice four people being enveloped in a bright light like this. He just hoped, however, that none of them would be rash enough to try and stop whatever was happening...!
IC:
Surge was about to retreat and go searching for Reni elsewhere, when he noticed something. Hey wait...there she is...Wait...What's going on?! As he watched she and a group of others were enveloped in a bright light. Alarmed, he forgot about staying hidden and ran over. "Reni! Hey wait! What's that light?! Hey wait for me!" Desperately, he dove into the perrimiter of light...
TBC
(OOC: Blah post. But it gets the point accross, I guess.)
"What the hell..." The eldest of the trio said shoving back a guard and staring at the beam of a light. "Is it some kinda energy cannon?" The little gray gerbil squirmed past two awestruck guards, "Don't be an idiot Rick, energy field that large the concussion alone woulda blow us back." The older fox blinked in the light, "But it hit people." "No shockwave, no impact, targeted at people. Dude, it's a energy manipulation beam."
"A what?"
"It's transporting those people via a... oh nevermind. Come on, I ain't staying here with those crazy mechs." The rodent fired off grunting in frustration, ducking past a guard and beelining for the beam. "Aid wait!" The fox looked almost paniced watching the boy gain distance. He growled, grabbing the bunny backpack and all and slamming into an officer and taking off before the bewildered man could stop gawking. There wasn't much to stop them, the spectacle had almost everyone's attention. Rico ran, trying to catch up to the gerbil, but the load on his back was slowing him down. They closed on the energy beam, he could feel the boy on his back holding on tighter and tighter. Ahead of him he saw his friend vanish into the beam, there was no hesitation as he plowed headlong into the blinding light as well.
Lyla stared at the intense, pulsating, and just plain huge energy beam resonating in the middle of the scene. A couple of other officers had already made their way inside it before she was even able to say a single word. "I... uh... what" she blankly managed to utter out from the sheer shock of the situation. Taking in a deep breath, she took a moment to analyze the situation and figure out the best course of action. She could choose to stay here, or discover what the hell goes on inside that beam. It obviously wasn't harmful or the shockwave would have knocked them back as previously mentioned. Decisions, decisions, decisions. After that brief moment was over, she stared at her partner, all of her confidence returning in a single moment.
"Solus, I'm going in. Watch my back," She said turning towards the huge beam and taking a leap inside. She didn't know what was inside it, but that was half the fun!
OOC: I'm gonna borrow an idea from the current running GM and insert soundtrack links every so often for scene setting, if I find appropriate music for a place or scene. As with the GM, no need to click if you don't want to 
IC:
The column of light abruptly receded into the early evening sky. Where those within had stood, there was naught left save for empty ground.
Ex'aeire, the Fabled Lost City, Arcadia II. 6:11pm CST.
The feeling of weightlessness they'd experienced briefly on their short journey upward faded rather quickly as they felt solid ground beneath their feet once more.
Ash quickly looked around...and let out a small "...whoa." They were stood in the middle of a large plaza. There were buildings here and there around the edges of the octagonal space, but most of them seemed to be in varying states of disrepair. Even so, the architecture was clearly nothing like that found in any other city on the whole of the planet below. The ground beneath their feet was made of something smooth and glassy, it seemed. There were small flecks of light flickering through it every so often, here and there. The place seemed to be smaller in size than, for example, New Exile City, but it was still quite clearly fairly large.
Unlike New Exile, however, this was a quiet city - there were no sights or sounds of life inhabiting this long-forgotten place. It was like opening an old attic or basement door after having left it undisturbed for years, but on a far grander scale. There were blinking lights here and there scattered across the buildings and walkways, and the occasional glowing glyph on signs hanging from overhead supports. Aside from these things, however, there was a definite feeling of emptiness here - and with it, the slight feeling of apprehension that, perhaps, there could be things unknown hidden here, good or bad.
"This... this is really it, isn't it?" he said, still looking around.
"Oh my gosh! Look at all this!" came Raia's delighted voice. She'd wasted no time in starting to wander away from their point of arrival to examine everything in sight.
"Don't wander too far on your own, now, Raia..." Ash warned, still glancing around.
"Would someone like to explain what's going on here?" inquired Lyla. She then got a good look at who she was in the company of, at about the same time as Ash looked back at her from having heard her voice.
"You again!?" the two of them exclaimed in unison.
"I had to inspect what was going on in here, part of my job as an officer," She smugly told Ash. Her pose was slightly defensive. She knew that Ash wasn't a threat, but at the same time she had no clue who - or what, would be lurking in the shadows around here. "I've never seen any place quite like this one though," She mused, placing her hands on a nearby wall, physically inspecting them.
Taking a moment to check her communicator, she realized that all contact with HQ was lost... temporarily at least. "Damn it," She muttered, in a fairly detached voice.
"So Ash, what brings you here?"
Eve clung to Ash's sleeve for dear life. Regardless of the fact that the sensation had passed, she didn't let go. She was shaking a little, as if frightened by the whole ordeal, and Lyla's gruff approach hadn't done anything to relieve her stress. "Is it over yet?" He eyes were shut tight.
OOC: Gah, short post!
OOC: A little while since I added time notations to my posts- let's see if I'm still accurate!
A few hours ago on Tabiator...
Yulan set the bio-shield back to its former configuration as the courier ship left the family estate to begin the return journey to Arcadia II. She smiled a small smile to herself as she thought about her guests. They had definitely been some of the most interesting couriers she had ever been sent- not least because Yulan was certain that three out of the four had not been couriers at all. For instance, if Eve had been employed by Tiberius Electronics, wouldn't they have taken note of how easily distracted she was and how accident prone? Yulan was pretty sure they would- it was hard to miss. And, with that in mind, wouldn't they have given her a desk job where the risk of her getting lost or harming herself was minimised instead of sending her out as a courier? That was certainly what Yulan would have done.
Then there was the purple hedgehog girl- Reni. Yulan had finally learned her name when using the droids to find her. There was no way she was a courier either. She gave the impression- try to conceal it though she might- that she belonged in settings such as presently surrounded Yulan. That and her odd discomfort at being her, plus a niggling sense of familiarity Yulan couldn't place weren't enough in themselves to rule out her being a courier- it was the fact that she had wandered off and become lost that had cliched it. If Reni had been a courier she'd have done the same as Ash and asked before wandering through someone else's home- that was standard protocol for almost any courier Yulan could think of.
Where Raia was concerned, Yulan had known the moment she set eyes on her that the young woman hadn't been a courier simply because of her sword, her attachment to it and Ash's failure to mention an armed guard. Again, it was standard protocol to mention armed guards. As for Ash himself- he had seemed the most normal, although Yulan had to wonder, given thecompany he kept while at work and his nickname. And that slight sign he had given off upon seeing the news from Arcadia II- it all made Yulan suspect there was more to the unlikely quartet than met the eye. With Raia promising to keep in touch, Yulan mused, perhaps she would learn more over time? It gave her more pleasant puzzles to brood upon than her dreams anyway. Pausing before the broken fragments of the vase, Yulan used her spark talent to meld the fragments seamlessly back together. Once she was satisfied that it looked as good as new, she took the elevater back to her suite to get started on her order- taking a few minutes to send an e-mail to Tiberius Electronics stating that she was so impressed with their services that she wished to give them her recommendation...
Tabiator, Zhan Family Estate, 07:11am ECT
Yulan wiped the sweat from her brow, a huge smile fixed on her face as she stepped out of a very narrow doorway that slid soundlessly shut behind her, becoming invisible or near enough once it was closed. It had taken hours, but she had installed the hardware and software required in the Architects' Tunnels of the main building. She checked the time. A little after seven. On Tabiator, that was still early in the morning. Her family probably thought she'd overslept. Let them, Yulan decided, that way she could take a much-needed shower and maybe catch a little sleep before her younger cousins inevitably came to pound on the door and demand she get up. Her mind went briefly to the media-blackout from Arcadia II. She'd have to check if there was any development there at all. Thinking of that made Yulan wonder- what had her guests found when they'd returned to Arcadia II?
Raia turned in a slow circle to take everything in, and then twirled around one in sheer glee. She waved a hand at Ash in response to his warning, her mind already occupied with trying to decipher on of the nearer signs. Ex'aiere! An academic's /dream/, and here she was! She definitely picked up on the possibility of hidden things being present, though not so much the danger -- she was far too excited for that.
IC:
"...Surge? What are you doing here?"
But before Surge could even reply, he felt Reni's arms around him. "Uh...Ren...now's not the best time..." His ears were turning pink in embarrasment.
Serenity cleared her throat and released him. "Uh...yeah...R-right." She continued in a whispered aside. "And you should have stayed home...what if...N-nevermind. That's not important right now."
Only then did the two hedgehogs take in their strange surroundings. "Whoa..."
TBC
"That transporter beam." Ash answered honestly. "Well, that and... actually, I'm not really too sure. There was this mecha bird that mentioned analysis and... look, it's complicated. I don't really know, but I'm here to find out." he continued. At the same time, one of his arms wrapped around Eve's shoulders instinctively.
"Hey now, it's OK..." he told her quietly. "We're here, it's fine. Open your eyes."
"Hmm." Lyla pondered. "Do we know where we are? Because wherever we are, I can't get through to anyone."
Ash fished in his pocket for his phone at this news, and frowned as he examined the display. "No signal for me, either."
"Something must be jamming the signals. That's a pain." Lyla mused, although she didn't seem too fazed by the fact.
"Er, as for where we are, well..." Ash began "Unless I'm mistaken, we're in Ex'aeire. Yes, that Ex'aeire."
Lyla raised an eyebrow slightly at that, and took another glance around.
"...really." she said, after a few moments' pause.
"As far as I'm aware, yeah." the fox replied. She's taking it remarkably well. he noted mentally to himself. Perhaps this was what it meant to be a member of WEAPONS - having the ability to remain even-tempered and alert even in as strange a situation as this. He was quietly impressed by the woman's even demeanour, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it. They'd been brought here for a reason, after all.
"Ah, there you are." came a voice from nearby. It was the same small mechanoid they'd talked to before. "I'm glad to see you made it here intact. We honestly weren't completely certain the transporter would manage with so many of you."
Lyla stared at the mechanoid but for a few moments before speaking. Slowly, she opened her mouth "I suppose I can agree with that. However, I have some questions, if you don't mind," She quickly said to the robot, not sure of what to expect. She honestly couldn't tell if it was sentient - capable of acting on it's own or simply following orders from someone else. And of course determining if it was hostile or friendly was another problem she had to deal with.
Unit Zeta 3401 returned Lyla's gaze with its faintly glowing eyes.
"It would depend on what you wish to ask of me. I am limited in what I may divulge - I cannot speak freely regarding why you all have been brought here. If you have other questions however," he continued, as he jumped down from the lamp post he had been perched on, "I shall do what I can to answer. I would ask that you follow me for the time being, and I can answer your queries en route."
"...en route to where?" Ash inquired.
"You'll see." replied the mecha-bird as it started walking along the street with its awkward gait. Seeing little option other than to follow, Ash started after it, with Lyla and Eve in tow.
"So, what are you wanting to know?" the mecha-bird asked, glancing at the WEAPONS officer.
OOC:
This segment of the RP can be looked at as some time aside to explore and chat to the other characters. The lost city is reasonably big, plus it may be hiding all kinds of odds and ends. I have some ideas for small side-quests of a sort in mind as well, so feel free to PM or IM me about this sort of thing Or alternatively you can follow Ash and co to see what happens to him.
(OOC: Hmm..Urge...to get Reni lost again...rising...must fight it...not sure what else to do right now though XP)
OOC: I'm cool with it if you want to do that Vee :3
